Pool is a popular past time involving a six pocket billiard table and a plurality of hard balls including a cue ball. Although there are many variations, all pool games generally involve hitting the cue ball with a pool cue so as to cause one of the remaining balls to drop into one of the pockets of the billiard table.
Pool is played in pool halls, taverns, recreation centers and other facilities which are open to the public. Generally, when playing in pool halls and these other places, more avid pool players bring their own pool cues. This is especially true of players who play in pool leagues and enter highly competitive pool competitions and tournaments for prize money, but is also true of players who are beginners wishing to play with proper equipment. The pool cues used by these players can cost as much as fifteen hundred dollars and even more.
While waiting for the other player to complete his turn, a pool player will often rest his pool cue up against a bar, a bar stool, a table, or any other convenient stable surface often allowing the cue to fall. Also, other players and/or patrons may inadvertently bump the pool cue and cause it to tip and hit the floor. Such action can scratch, nick, or otherwise damage the pool cue. Clearly this is undesirable since, as noted above, pool cues can be quite expensive.
Although permanently affixed pool cue holders are known, these pool cue holders are usually filled with house cues. Further, even if not filled with house cues, these holders are usually undesirable to use because they are inconveniently placed away from where the player is sitting and are open to constant approach by other people. Thus, the pool players do not use the permanent pool cue holders and the above-described problems are not avoided.
Until now, previous attempts at supplying portable pool cue holders have been unsuccessful. Generally, the such attempts have suffered from one or more of the following drawbacks: (1) the holder is ineffective because it is unable to securely grasp the pool cue, (2) the holder is ineffective because it is can not be securely attached to a stable surface, (3) the holder is intrusive in that it requires modification of the pool cue, (4) the holder is unacceptably costly and thus is not practical for owners of more modestly priced pool cues, (5) the holder is not compact to transport or set up, (6) the holder is not convenient to put cues in repeatedly, and/or (7) the holder must be inconveniently placed away from the player, increasing the likelihood of theft of the pool cue.
Another problem is arises with respect to pool cue carrying cases which are used to transport pool cues. These cases, like the pool cues they carry, can be of high quality and be made of expensive materials such as leather. However, there is typically no place to rest the carrying cases while a pool game is in progress. Thus, the player is forced to put the carrying case on the floor of the bar, for example, where the carrying case may be trampled on or have drinks spilled thereon. If instead the carrying case is placed "out of the way," then the fact that the carrying case is out of sight increases the likelihood that it will get stolen or even misplaced accidentally and taken by another player or person trying to pick up after pool leagues, etc.
Thus, what is needed is a portable pool cue holder which overcomes the above-described problems. The portable pool cue holder also provides a location for attachment to a pool cue carrying case and uses an adapter strap provided for ease.